Drive Energi aims to complete the installation of 2,500 charging locations by 2025, with at least 100 sites to be live by end of January 2020. Once complete, the network will be among the largest single-country DC rapid charging networks in the world and, given the size and geographic range of the potential sites of the network, will effectively eliminate range anxiety in the UK.
Each charging site will feature up to two Tritium Veefil-RT 50kW DC Rapid Chargers – capable of adding 100 kilometres or 60 miles of range in 20 minutes of charging, or more than three times the average daily commute in the UK – along with a number of lower-power AC chargers. By comparison, a 7kW charger – typically found in a home or some publicly-available sites in the UK – can add about 14 kilometres or just over nine miles every 20 minutes.
“We chose to work with Tritium because its technology is proven and its chargers are reliable, robust and trustworthy,” said James Moat, CEO of Drive Energi. “These chargers are not only the fastest and most advanced in their class, but incredibly easy to use and, with the world’s smallest physical footprint, to deploy as well – particularly in our cities and high-density areas where space is increasingly limited.”
In addition to working with Drive Energi to install the chargers, Tritium will supply 24/7 support for the network, including on-site support where and when required. Each charger features a modem which is constantly transmitting data to Tritium’s team of support engineers, who can also be contacted via phone at any time.
Further, each charger manufactured by Tritium is certified to comply with stringent ISO standards for quality, health and environment.
The company recently opened its state-of-the-art Tritium E-Mobility Innovation Centres in Brisbane and Amsterdam. The new and upgraded facilities will respectively allow the company to ramp up its R&D and increase production levels to cater for the rising demand in charging infrastructure across the globe. As the Drive Energi network is thought to be Tritium’s largest deployment of Veefil-RT 50kW DC Rapid Chargers for a single network, the increase in production capability is timely.
Drive Energi will be a mix of publicly-available and private charging solutions across the UK – the private charging options will be catered to the increased electrification of private fleets across the country.
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